Sunday, November 29, 2009

Mahathir – a living “monument of shame”

If anything, this controversial new book entitled “Malaysian Maverick – Mahathir Mohamad in turbulent time” depicts that true to his motto of (Sapu) Bersih, Cekap (Menyorok), (Tidak) Amanah “clean (sweep), efficient (in siphoning), (not) trustworthy”, the former premier had in his 22-year-rule caused or contributed to a sizeable amount of the nation’s wealth been siphoned off.

But having said that, no one should treat what has been written in this book as the gospel truth. In the mean time, Tun M should promptly file a defamation suit against the writer of the book, if what has been written was baseless and a complete lie.

Failing which, he would be as guilty as charged. What say you?

Mahathir squandered RM100 bil, says new bookCourtesy of Malaysiakini.

Malaysia has squandered an estimated RM100 billion on financial scandals under the 22-year rule of Dr Mahathir Mohamad, according to a new book about the former prime minister.

This doubled once the invisible costs, such as unrecorded write-offs, were taken into account. The RM100 billion total loss was equivalent to US$40 billion at then prevailing exchange rates.

Barry, who is a former editor of the Asian Wall Street Journal, says most of the scams, which included a government attempt to manipulate the international tin price and gambling by Bank Negara on global currency markets, occurred in the 1980s.

‘Malaysian Maverick’ is the first independent, full-length study of Mahathir, who retired in 2003 after more than two decades as premier. The book will be published globally next week by Palgrave Macmillan.

Wain writes that the Mahathir administration, which took office in 1981 with the slogan, “clean, efficient, trustworthy”, was almost immediately embroiled in financial scandals that “exploded with startling regularity”.

By the early 1990s, he says, cynics remarked that it had been “a good decade for bad behaviour, or a bad decade for good behaviour”.

Secret military deal with US

The book also reveals that:

* Mahathir, despite his nationalistic rants, signed a secret security agreement with the United States in 1984 that gave the Americans access to a jungle warfare training school in Johor and allowed them to set up a small-ship repair facility at Lumut and a plant in Kuala Lumpur to repair C-130 Hercules transport aircraft.

* Mahathir used a secret fund of his ruling Umno to turn the party into a vast conglomerate with investments that spanned almost the entire economy.

* Mahathir’s Umno financed its new Putra World Trade Centre headquarters in Kuala Lumpur partly with taxpayers money, by forcing state-owned banks to write off at least RM140 million in interest on Umno loans.

Wain, who is now a writer-in-residence at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, however credits Mahathir with engineering the country’s economic transformation, deepening industrialisation and expanding Malaysia’s middle class.

But Mahathir had undermined state institutions, permitted the spread of corruption and failed to provide for Malaysia’s future leadership, he says.

84 comments:

before i can comment i read the book 1st..But a brief comments on the topic..I agreed that Mahathir is a maverick politician who contributed to the development of the whole malaysia.Even if there are some rogue adiministrator-who cannot blamed the whole mess on Mahathir..I Still respect him because he is one malaysia who dare stand up against all the super power or the so called world police force & imperial expension by those power -exploiting third world countries and other modern coutries as well..

Another product of UMNO. Don't know if he is a bugis or jawa descendent. But judging from the crooked nose, it seems none of the above. What say me? Descendent from the country between Malaysia and Israel, so to speak. Another one who has his own motherland. I've to read the book first. But some things done by him were very obvious. For instance, the Project IC mahathir. That cannot be denied. But, I also like to read the book by Shannon Ahmad called SHIT. Chemically speaking, I don't know the reaction of these two books if to be put side by side. For me, one doesn't have to praise a leader so much. Especially if he let a dangerous virus called corruption to creep in. And then the 'bailing out' disease. If there is a form to be filled in, in order to become a prime minister, I wouldn't hesitate to try my luck. As long as you have Petronas, it would be very simple. 1 percent for our own pocket is enough already. During the assembly sitting, even the 'kekebalan diraja' can be amended, let alone the ordinary rakyat. The prime minister just sat there and produce his own way of thinking, bla bla bla, then all became part of the law. Including the pengerusi UMNO tidak boleh ditanding. So, funny ah. Like we own Malaysia. No wonder the book says SHIT because all are bullshit. Starting from the mouth to the rear, all are SHIT.

This is a nation where freedom fighter like Chin Peng is being labelled as a traitor and banished from his own country, but crook of the highest degree like Mahathir is being treated as a national hero and was conferred with the title of 'Tun', which is a real insult to the thinking Malaysians.

Ronnie, you've again nailed it right on the spot by calling Mahathir a "living monument of shame".

I pray & hope & would suggest that if Pakatan Rakyat comes to power one day, they would put Mahathir and all his accomplices who pilfered our nation's wealth on trial. Upon conviction, not only that they should be put in jail but all their properties and cash too should be seized and return to the nation's coffer.

All those convicted should then be inducted into the "Malaysian Hall of Shame" complete with their statues (with slipper garland) for public to curse them. Mahathir and his accomplices should also be featured in the textbook for moral studies in public schools, in order to teach our future generations on the shame of being rogue leaders.

TDM is so disgusting that I think nobody should even write about him. He is not even worth to be written about whether about his good or bad deeds. What he has done is not even worth reading, not even his name should be mentioned,he is worst than Hitler, so why waste this space to talk about him...I do not consider him wira negara I consider him penghianat negara!

I don't have to read the book to know who is Mahathir. It is all right in front of our eyes. We can all see it. Malaysia is ruined because of him. No matter which party govern our country. It is impossible to undo all wrongs he'd done here.

As a true Sabahan, born & bred, I trully believed that Sabah was totally destroyed by Mahatir regime... So, *#@! the hell with him ! He's just a piece of crapp now, well, all those time he was a pm, he was a bigger crapp !! :)

A dam good one.In the process of demonizing all these scumbags,I think we should also consider naming possible candidates who have qualities for the people of Sabah and Malaysia as a whole.I would like to suggest Sabah's number 1 daredevil blogger,Ronnie Klassen.

Sabahans....can you think of anyone else?We might as well start choosing our fighters for Sabah now and promote them for the next general elections.

Agreed Anon,let the people decide who they want to represent them.The bloody dam politicians today are useless to the core.If we the people do not play this all important role,we'll be seeing the same actors only with a different shirt but the same old shit.

I second Anon's proposal in naming Ronnie as one of our defender in defending Sabah in Parliament.Lets vote and support Ronnie at the next election.

How can you trust a person who is so embarrass to even acknowledge his own race?Be proud of your own race,let it be Malay,Chinese,Indian,Kadazan or Iban,that is what Malaysia is all about,a united race but definitely not that bullshit 1Malaysia.

Just like Najib,he's proud to be a Bugis and not Malay and makes no apology of it. Kudos to him.Now perhaps we can start looking for a bonafide Malay as our next Prime Minister.

Sabah,on the other hand has a Pakistani as the Chief Minister,can Musa dare say otherwise?These students of Mamaktir have all one thing in common,their not Malays.

If I was Mahathir,I'll keep my big mouth shut,and evaporate somewhere where we'll never hear of him ever again.Maybe Najib should suggest to Mahathir to migrate to India.He can than appreciate the Indian culture.

In his 22 years as Prime Minister,the rich became richer and the poor became poorer.Najib is now continuing where Mahathir left off.Badawi couldn't do anything during his time because he was busy sleeping.

Mahathir dare to speak up?My foot- That was just a show he put up to fool the Malay voters when he signed military cooperation with US and used taxpayers money to a lobbyist so that he can have a photo taken with the US President...for those of you who wants to see new faces in politics, come forward and register yourselves, frens and family members as voters, then be active in any of the opposition parties so that you can "stand and be counted".Change starts with you my friends and will not happen just by wishful thinking or making unanimous comments.

I seriusli & stlongli suspek you must be the long lost anak haram (ilicit son) of Mahathir aka Mamakhuti/Maha-koteh/Maha-pundek. That's why you adored him soooooo much even though the whole world knows he's such a real a** hole & a tyrant!

And btw, don't you dare use the pseudonym of 'White Dragon', as it is an insult to the world-famous Thai master of the same name.

If you continue to use his name to promote evil-doers like Mahakhuti, you & your entire family will regret later.

No matter with all the diverse ill comments on Mahatir past performances, he will be remembered as a shrewd, autorcratic, and dictatorial leader, that make him a succesful PM as evident of the developments that makes Malaysia today in the forefront of world affairs. Wish him a happy retirement and keep ' barking '.

During his reign. Mahathir has poisoned all the leaders, civil servants and the people's mind. It'll be a tough job trying to reform them. God bless the new Malaysian leader. May you stir up a revolution. Who ever you may be.

Dr M said ' Melayu mudah lupa' is perhaps correct as far as he is concerned. He is a melayu, even though some may argue otherwise, that is why he forgot that corruption and abuse of powewr started to breed when he was PM and reached their ugliest height when he stepped down as PM. But the people of Malaysia will always and must rememebr and remind themself that Dr M is the most corrupted and abusive PM that Malaysians ever had, no matter what he said or says.

He is confident with his mission and vision. He is indeed a 'big mouth' man with bunches of harsh words. Yes, he possessed leadership skills and look..but I don't think everybody will say YES to him after what he did on Sabah last time.

What Mahathir has done was divide and rule the people especially Sabahans. And he had made good use of Anuar Ibrahim to carry out his cynical plan to destroy PBS...and then put him out of action to prevent being toppled..What has the rotation CMs in Sabah done? nothing but mass squandering that has caused Sabah to be bankrupt...To me Mahathir is just another crook of the century..

Brainless Kolou's wife Urbanchick love Mahathir must have chicken brain which was brainwash. Doesn't she know that the ONLY reason why he keep talking and criticizing UMNO and BN is because he has one great fear "ketakutan". Look at his comments, he is scare of the fall of UMNO as this will make DSAI who he have jailed for 6 years to DESTROY him.

I serously think that all his supporters should read the book. It might give you some enlightening about all the things he's done. You may think he did some good things. But that is only 1 in 100. The rest is all the bad things.

True, he is the reason Sabah was exploited and victimized. During a time period where the leaders wanted to withdraw Sabah from Malaysia. He had them all murdered. This is why Sabah is still stuck with them. Because he wanted our oil.

He is the reason why the racist issue widespread. Why the corruption rate increases.

He may did something decent for the economy once. But the damage he's done is beyond redemption.

I appeal to Tun M to come to Sabah as a private person and see for himself the extent of misuse of powers albiet corruption unhindered by BN politicians right from the bottom to the top. He is a great champion for the weak, prove that to Sabahans. JUst because Sabah BN save the incumbent governemt in the last general election, it doesnt meant the Ministers are at will to bleed the coffer.

We are human and we do make a mistake once...He is not as perfect as an angel..but as a leader he do lots of changes...Some may appreciated it and some may just ignore it.. Once you done wrong people will remembering it, always remember but if you spread the good thing people may remember it just for a while..then it will fade away... This kind of life.. life like this..

What are you talking about good things Mahathir has done? All the purpoted good things that you thought was done for his own benefit and to enrich his cronies. Tell me what Mahathir has done for Sabah? one good thing..rotation CMs? you must be very ill informed or do not see the whole thing as a whole...Mahathir has destroyed Sabah...especially the Sabahans' unity...you are just talking a lot of crap!!

Sabah has been squandered left and right during the rotation CMs time, and Mahathir could not even care less as long as all the CMs angkat his kaki!!

To A True Malaysian You insult me and my family & also mengugut saya just because of my personal comments on Tun..Even if i use the term" White Dragon" so what!!!Who are you to judge me!!! My god Judge you accordinly when you Die one day Retart!!! & May you deserved what you get for cursing other people on their freedom to comments in this World!!!You are truely one Racist & Bigot MalaysiaBtw im Sabahan..you Idiot!!!

You can judge other people Badly and even condemn then for a simple comment now.. But Remember This!!you are only passing throught this world...And time will come;When you will be judge for you selfish and stupidity comments also.. dont think you can hide from God final jugdement in this cyberworld konon..

However u must be toooooo young to remember what actually happened. Actually it is PBS who harped on the issue on a having a Uni in Sabah. We do not have since joining Malaya in 1963 and the fed have always the excuse that we have enough university in "Malaysia". That is the reason why we have to go either oversea or the limited place in Malaya. In 1985 PBS manifestor they also want a TV channel for Sabah.

So Joshua, we Sabahan must understand that Dr. M is not the provide "benefit" to us but brainwash us thinking that he gave us one. ACTUALLY he deprive us of having an education and use his power to topple PBS then and use the media to make us think that he conribute UMS.

If he use his "personal" wealth to build UMS then we can say he provide benefit to us. BUT the money to build UMS is from our own pocket i.e. from our oil money.

Sabahns must remember "Goverment" is us we elect them. Goverment provide basis education to the public "NOT POLITICIAN".

How many Sabah students actually benefited from UMS. May I ask? The answer is, not many. I have many friends and cousins. Top of the class, straight A's, and very very poor. Where are they now? Working and studying part time in West Malaysia. Why? Because UMS does not want them.

I really hope you have no children/grand children at the moment & if you plan to have one, make sure you marry one of the BN leaders/Ministers' daughters, so that at least when this country really go down the drain, you can still afford to migrate with all the ill-gotten monies of your future father-in-law.

If you have children/grand children now, May Mahathir bless you!

Or may be you're already in the BN/Mahathir's family & hence trying to do some PR for them.

No I am nobody but please if you want to boom me please don't dragging my children and the my whole inherited... As i see you want to threaten me for this...but its ok then... I just want to share the information that is truly Dr do for Sabahan.

For the IC palsu... Have you ever think to put the blame to Sabahan leader that time? Why did they let Dr M do this to us? WHY?

Ok you are the owner of this land and someone ask you to keep all his people... you can choose whether to keep them or not.. you are the owner.. remember that..

And i just want to share and don't say anything bad as i never say anything bad to you....Peace :)

Yes and i am only want to share it to you guys... Blaming me for what... i am not defending him but someone ask me what did Dr M do for us so i just share loo.... just an opinion la guys... escape it or leave it!!! :)Chil

This is why I ask. How many students actually benefited from UMS? If the Sabahans could not get into a local Sabah university. How is that a benefit to us? How many students can afford to go study in West Malaysia? How many students can afford to go overseas? Why deprive our people a chance of higher education?

Why is UMS only for a minority of Sabah students? If this university is really built for the good of the Sabahan. How come not all the students can get in?

I really dont care if hes a crook, a money launder, a scammer etc...who doestn???

he stand up and fight the west when others fail to do so...he lead this country through 2 economic downturn without have to borrow A single CENTS from the IMF, thanks to him, we have our own (yup i know, with the help of Mitsubishi) proton saga, petronas tower..Commonwealth game Baby, the second biggest sport meet in the world...to say a few...

rather than see the bad side of him, which everybody here have, why dont we see the good side of him...its becoming a trend to see people from the bad side, maybe because its much more fun & interesting to hear & gossip at the coffe shop...

let us ask ourself, are we so 'clean' to judge people just like that??

I do agree that he, at some point, screw with the peoples money for his own purpose..but which leader doesnt do that??even the communist government in china back in the 50-90's has a corrupt leader...

i dont care who ever & what ever party or leader lead this country, as long as he can keep the tension between races in this country under control, bring developement, provide free or cost saving education & health care...i will be happy...

Think of yourself... I don't like people talk a bad thing about me here as never do it to you. If you all mad at me or did not agree in what had i write, ok then. I did not force you to agree with my own philosophy. Be mature in posting comments and don't think about to blame on others when you are not in their opinion. Don't attacked others by threatening them...this is what we call a dirty attack.

One more thing, i do like burger, from its bread and the meet to the pickle and the mayo, shorten it i like Burger. But may be you don't like the pickle, but of course not the bread. Same to this situation.. i do like and appreciated him because of i do see him in a good side but in a same time i look at his wrong doing and try not to follow the mistake but learn from it.But you might see him as a disaster and i will not blaming you for this as i know u have the right to think so...

I don't know hows your philosophy thinking but this is mine and once again i did not ask you to agree with me..

Joshua, can you enlighten me with this issue that I put down here. Recently, I happened to drink coffee in one restaurant in Kita Kinabalu. The other table nearby were three persons. I overheard them talking. One guy happened to be a chinese, The second one is an indon while the third on hails from malaya. The chinese gut is from malaya also. Now the question is, this malay guy called himself as a malay guy. But he is also a bugis. The bugis from indonesia didn't call himself as a malay but remain a bugis. The chinese remained a chinese although he was also from malaya. Now, the question is, if this bugis guy from malaya called himself a malay guy why not the bugis from indon. And if the definition of malay is because he is from malaya, why didn't the chinese guy from malaya call himself a malay. So, where does this 'malay' thing come from? A jawa from malaya is also called a malay, right. But why not the chinese? Or, maybe because he is not a muslim. But chinese muslims are still chinese in malaya. Are there any other type of people that produce dual races than the malays? I wonder if it is stated in the holy book that gives these type of people to earn 2 races. I am sure even the two prophets had only 1 race each. What about the crooked nose mahathir?

He is facing a huge trouble right now. Lim Kit Siang is asking Najib to set up a Royal Commission to investigate the RM22m..lost.I bet something wrong is haunting him now. I don't dare to say stupid thing here.

Why should i? U enlighten it ur self.. Seem like you cannot accept others opinion... People like you will always want to be on the top and never want to listen others opinion.. well good luck to you.. pray for your happiness..

I think for malaysia people to adore mamakthir is no surpise. Just like hidustanis Actor people don't know what and who he is personally but his fan adore him blindly. Even jacky Chan did act in a blue film once and now he is a hero to his fan all over asia. so what! Adorable person still can be a monster.

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About Me

A Statesman is a Politician who places himself at the service of the nation.A Politician is a Statesman who places the nation at his service.
Share your thoughts and ideas with me in the hope we could together make that change.All emails to me are strictly confidential. info.ronnieklassen@gmail.com